Brothers
by lullabydreamx
Summary: It's the middle of the night, and, confused and tired, Tyler just can't sleep. Luckily, Rick is there to take care of him. Just like a big brother would. Follows on from the episode Seriously Funny. Might be more scenes to come!


**Hey! After watching series 3 of TBR and the new series of TDG I just loved the brother-like relationship between Rick and Tyler – I love how they always seem to be next to each other, and how they look out for each other having been at Burnywood together. I wanted to try and write a scene or two for them that I think might have happened between episodes or something. This takes place just after Seriously Funny in TDG. Though, a warning: it's kind of sappy. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, they belong to the BBC. Probably.**

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Tyler woke up with a yelp. He could feel his heart racing beneath his T shirt; could hear blood pounding in his ears. He glanced to his side: the digital clock glowed 2:57am in the darkness, and Rick was sound asleep, half buried under his duvet. A shaft of moonlight filtered through a crack in the curtains. Everything was calm and peaceful, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. But Tyler's head was swimming, and for the first time in a long while he found that his sheets were wet. He was exhausted and confused, and had finally reached breaking point. Clutching his curls with his hands, Tyler bent forwards and began to cry.

Somehow, deep in his warm, cosy, sleepy fog, Rick became vaguely aware of a snuffling noise somewhere near him. Ordinarily he'd have just blocked it out as none of his business and let himself fall back into the fog. But the sniffles were persistent, and Rick could not block them out, to the point where, though his eyes were jammed shut and his breathing slow and steady, he found that he was awake. Cracking open one sleepy eyelid, he blinked into focus when he saw, in the darkness, Tyler's short figure hunched over in the next bed, sobbing. Wriggling free of his warm covers, he stretched out an arm to pull the lamp switch on. Tyler looked around, startled. "Tyler, man," Rick croaked, his voice thick with sleep but gentle in tone "What's the matter?"

Tyler opened his mouth to reply but, unable to find the words, shook his head as more tears rolled down his cheeks. Frowning in concern, Rick sat up further to peer round at Tyler. "Whatever it is can't be that bad, mate. Tell me what's wrong, eh?"

"I h-haven't done it in a-ages" mumbled Tyler

"Done what?"

"This," Tyler gestured at the wet patch below him. Rick smiled, kindly.

"Don't worry about that, mate. Easily sorted. No one has to know a thing."

"But it's not just that," Tyler hiccupped "It's...it's..."

At this point, Rick swung his legs out of bed and came to crouch beside Tyler's bed, where he looked him straight in the eyes. "Look, let's not worry about whatever else has upset you just for the minute. Let's get this all cleared up first. You remember the drill, right? You take some fresh jammies to the bog and get changed, and I'll find some clean sheets. Yeah?"

Tyler blinked and looked back at Rick. He nodded hesitantly "Ok."

A moment later, Tyler had finished in the bathroom. He chucked his wet pyjamas into his laundry basket as he crept back across the corridor to his and Rick's room, who he found making Tyler's bed up with clean sheets. "You don't have to do that." Tyler said, looking at the floor.

"S'no trouble," Rick replied, as he roughly patted the cover into place "Now you don't have to tell me anything," he said, sitting down on his own bed "If you want to just go back to sleep and forget about all of this, that's fine. But I'm here if you need me. Right?"

Tyler nodded. "Sorry I woke you up."

"Don't worry about it, I don't mind."

"It's just...I was thinking about that dripping noise again..."

"But we showed you where it was coming from, and Mike's fixed it. You're really not going mad, Tyler."

"I know but...the more I thought about it, the more I could imagine hearing it again, just because I was thinking about it. And I thought...what if it w-was real, and wh-what if I d-did start going mad!"

"Oh Tyler, don't cry-"

"I heard people talking at school about the mad lady from number 64. You know the one with the cats," Tyler sniffed and looked up at Rick, who nodded. Everybody from their school knew about the mad cat lady from number 64. "And I kept thinking, for all I know, that could be my mum, and in the future, if I was mad, it could be me!"

Rick tapped on his temple with his thumb and forefinger as he tried to think. Eventually he came over and sat down next to Tyler on his bed. "Listen mate. I promise you, you're not mad, and you're not going to go mad. And you're _not_ going to be like the cat lady from number 64," Rick grinned and nudged Tyler "You don't even like cats! You can't catch madness. It just doesn't work like that."

"That's what Mike said."

"Well, that's 'cause he's right." Rick put an arm around Tyler "I reckon you're just a bit tired; there's nothing wrong that a good kip won't sort out. As for the other problem...that's just 'cause you let your guard down tonight. I won't tell anyone. Not even Gina when she's squawking about sheets going missing."

"Thanks Rick."

"S'alright," Rick smiled, sleepily. He stood up, stretched, and yawned "What are friends for?"

"Rick," said Tyler suddenly, just as Rick had burrowed back down into bed and was reaching to switch the light off.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I can sleep here tonight," he said miserably, pointing up at the ceiling "In case of the dripping noise."

Rick Thought for a moment "I don't know where else you can go," he said, eventually "Unless you want to swap beds or something for tonight?"

Tyler bit his lip as he considered this. "...Would you mind?"

"Nah, don't worry," said Rick, dragging himself out of his bed for the second time that night and wandering over to Tyler's. "Hop it and let me in then, I wanna go to sleep!" Rick winked at Tyler as he climbed into the other bed and shifted to get comfy. Tyler got into Rick's bed, which was much warmer than his own and smelt faintly of the body spray he knew Rick used. It was only as he watched Rick reach to turn the lamp off that he realised that Rick probably _did_ mind, and had given up his bed purely out of sympathy and kindness. "I wish we were brothers" Tyler whispered into the darkness

"You don't have to wish" mumbled Rick into his pillow, already quickly falling back into his sleepy fog. Finally feeling cheered up, Tyler smiled to himself and let the fog overtake him too.

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**Hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you have any suggestions for other un-televised scenes you'd like to see me write (if you have any).**


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